South Korea's exports in the first 20 days of December fell two percent year-on-year to 30.4 billion U.S. dollars due to a continued downturn in the chip industry, data from Korea Customs Service showed on Monday.

Chip exports and ship exports tumbled 16.7 percent and 51.2 percent respectively during the December 1-20 period, largely contributing to the overall slump. 

A government report on Sunday also showed that South Korea's exports of the information and communications technology products plunged 21.8 percent from a year earlier, falling for 13 straight months as of November.

On the other hand, exports of automobiles and telecommunication devices such as smartphone rose 2.7 percent and three percent respectively, data showed.

Exports to China, the biggest trading partner of South Korea, increased 5.3 percent in the period, and those to Japan rose 6.2 percent, with those to the Middle East surging 46.8 percent. However, exports to the United States declined 3.4 percent, and those to the European Union fell 7.1 percent during the period.

Imports during the 20-day period edged down 0.5 percent over the previous year to 30.1 billion U.S. dollars, bringing trade surplus to 0.3 billion U.S. dollars.

Specifically, imports of mechanical products, petroleum products and passenger vehicles during the period rose 16.1 percent, 27.6 percent and 9.5 percent year-on-year, respectively. Imports of crude oil and natural gas, however, decreased 3.1 percent and 14.7 percent respectively.